The Cliche Way
by Faye C. Marie
Summary: When Katie catches Travis kissing another girl, she breaks up with him on the spot. Travis goes to his brother for advice on how to get her back, and the solution is so clichéd no one would ever see it coming. Tratie. Written for Skywriter5's contest.


**A/N: So, here's my third entry for Skywriter5's contest! I had a bit of trouble choosing a song this week—not many of them fit the story I had in mind. I finally picked Everything, by Michael Bublé, because it was the only non-duet song sung by a man. Thanks to Eleos for editing this. Go check out her stories sometime; they're really good! Read, review, and enjoy!**

**Summary: When Katie catches Travis kissing another girl, she breaks up with him on the spot. She leaves camp the next day. Travis goes to his brother for advice on how to get her back and the solution is so clichéd no one would ever see it coming. Tratie. A songfic to Everything by Michael Bublé, written for Skywriter5's contest.**

**Note: I am currently looking for a beta. PM me if you're interested.**

**Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own PJO, and (most likely) neither do you.**

**Rating: T for language, suggestive themes, and general safety.**

The Cliché Way

Travis was standing in the strawberry fields, fighting the urge to yawn. It was the middle of the night; he really shouldn't have been up at all (he and Conner wanted to pull this great prank in the dining pavilion, so they needed to be up insanely early), but he'd promised to meet Katie there. She was heading back to Milwaukee early the next day, so this would've been their last time seeing each other 'till next summer.

Gods, he was going to miss her. Even though they had only gone out for about a month, he'd liked her for a while before they did. All those pranks he pulled—they were only so she'd notice him. Granted, they had the opposite effect that he wanted, and it took a lot to get Katie to be at least civil to him. His plan to ask her to fireworks this year had worked perfectly (but that's another story), unlike many other attempts.

Someone's — a girl's, by the looks — thin frame appeared a few yards away from him. Travis squinted, but it was too dark to see who it was. He shrugged it off—it was bound to be Katie. Who else was going to meet him out here in the middle of the night?

"Hey, Katie," Travis whispered as the girl got closer. She didn't say anything. Instead, she threw herself at him and kissed him square on the lips. Surprised, he didn't do anything for a minute, but slowly relaxed and kissed her back. He tugged her body to his, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She opened her mouth and let his tongue in, while he played with the ends of her long, curly hair—

Wait a second. Katie's hair wasn't curly. And she always had it in a ponytail, so it only reached down to her shoulders most of the time. Travis's eyes shot open.

He was kissing Drew, daughter of Aphrodite. And not just kissing. They were playing _tonsil hockey_. He removed his tongue from her mouth and tried to move away, but Drew clutched him tighter, refusing for their connection to break. She licked his lips with the tip of her tongue, and Travis unwillingly let out a groan. Stupid hormones.

A gasp came from behind him. "Travis?"

Drew finally let go of him, grinning cynically, but it was too late. Katie had seen them making out. Travis turned towards the sound of his girlfriend's voice and winced. Even in the dark he could tell she was pissed.

"What the Hades is going on here?" Katie yelled so loud, Travis was afraid his eardrum would burst.

"Katie! Thank gods you're here," Drew squealed in a faux-relieved voice. "I was just taking a walk before bed when Travis threw himself at me!" Travis's mouth flopped open with shock. _She_ had kissed _him_!

"Katie, it's not what it looks like," Travis said desperately. "Drew's lying. She—"

"Shut up, you _womanizing bastard_!" Katie screeched. "I _saw _you kissing her. Are you going to tell me all that was fake?" Travis opened his mouth to say that yes, that actually was sort-of fake (he was under the impression that Drew was Katie) but the daughter of Demeter kept ranting.

"I shouldn't have trusted you. Ever! How long have you been doing this kind of thing? Dating one girl and screwing another?" Katie glared at Travis like she was trying to melt him.

"Katie! Can you—"

"You can go back to kissing Drew now, if that's what you're going to ask, 'cause we're _through_!" She then stomped off down the nearest row of plants, the vines crawling from her anger. Travis's eyes widened. Did she just break up with him?

"Wait, Katie! Let me explain!" Travis ran after her, but tripped on one of the vines. He landed face-first in a bunch of strawberries, and their juicy flesh exploded all over him. He stood up, wiping the strawberry pieces from his eyes, but she was already gone.

"What the hell was that for?" Travis demanded as he turned towards Drew. She smiled a fake smile.

"Why, hon, don't tell me that upset you, did it?" she said in a sickly sweet voice laced with charmspeak. "I just was doing a little experiment on Katie's temper. That and creating some love drama—there hasn't been any new gossip in weeks!" Drew stuck her index finger out and wiped a glob of strawberry off Travis's cheek. She popped the finger in her mouth.

Travis swayed slightly. It _seemed_ like Drew was telling the truth. He wasn't that upset. So what if Katie had—_No, _he thought, _it's the charmspeak that's making you think like this. Snap out of it! Katie broke up with you. _

Travis shook his head, trying to rid the effects of the charmspeak from his mind. "You better watch out, Drew. I'm going to pull the dirtiest prank I've ever pulled on your cabin. You. Just. _Wait_."

Drew gave him a look like 'I don't believe you', and reached for another serving of strawberry. That infuriated him further. He smacked her hand away and sprinted out of the strawberry fields, headed in the direction of his cabin.

* * *

><p>"Dude, why are you covered in strawberry guts?" his brother Conner asked when he walked into the Hermes cabin. Travis didn't respond. He walked to his bunk, grabbed a semi-clean T-shirt, and tried to remove the strawberry from his face.<p>

As he scrubbed his forehead, Travis attempted to process what had happened. Drew had snuck up, pretended to be Katie, and kissed him. Katie had seen it, thought that he was cheating on her, and broke up with him. _She_ broke up with _him_. No one broke up with him. He was Travis-_f__reaking_-Stoll, for crying out loud!

Conner appeared in front of him. "Are you okay?"

Travis tossed the soiled T-shirt to the base of his bed. He scowled. "What makes you think anything's wrong?"

"Well, you didn't even reply to my strawberry guts comment. Which, by the way, you still have some on your nose," Conner supplied. Travis wiped his nose with the back of his hand, pulling it away to reveal red mush. Damn it, he was right.

"Plus," Conner continued, "you're back before three in the morning. Something happened with Katie."

Travis gave Conner a glare. "Shebrokeupwithme," Travis rushed.

Conner pretended to clean out his ear. "Sorry, what was that?"

Travis took a deep breath and then said very slowly, "She _broke up_ with me."

Conner stared at his brother for a second, and then burst out laughing. "Dude, what did you do to fuck that up?"

"I didn't do anything!" Travis yelled defensively. A few heads turned their way. He glowered at them, and they looked away just as quickly.

"Drew acted like Katie and kissed me, but I didn't know it was her," Travis explained in a whisper, "Katie saw the whole thing."

Conner stopped laughing. "Oh, gods. I bet she was pissed. _Real_ pissed."

Travis nodded. "Yeah. It was worse than the chocolate bunnies."

Conner blinked. It was hard to top that rant. "Wait; was the kiss with or without tongue?"

"With."

"Shit."

"Exactly what I was thinking. Anyways, near the end she said 'we're through' and stomped off. I tried to follow her and ended up with a face full of fruit." Travis concluded.

Conner whistled. "Whoa. Why would Drew kiss _you_?"

Travis hit his arm. "Shut up, douche. She wanted to cause some gossip. I asked her."

Conner rubbed the area where Travis had punched him. "First thing, oww! Second, this is easy to fix. There's a pair of new Hecate girls who just got claimed, and they're—"

Travis smacked him again. "Dude, I don't want another girlfriend! I need to figure out how to get her back."

"Well, you're pretty screwed on time then," Conner said, "Katie leaves for Milwaukee tomorrow."

Travis groaned and leaned back on his bed. "Trust me, I know that. It's the entire reason this even happened!"

The brothers sat in silence for a minute, before Conner gasped. "I have an idea."

Travis sat up. "Does it involve a prank?"

Conner shook his head.

"Does it involve me embarrassing myself?"

"Possibly."

"Does it involve me getting hurt?"

"If it doesn't work, it will."

"Well, what is it?"

Conner gave his brother a devious grin. "You still have Will's guitar, right?"

* * *

><p>Katie dropped her suitcase on the floor (with a loud clunk, too) and flopped down on her bed. Finally, after three hours on a plane, one hour in customs, and another half hour in the car, she was back on her dad's apple farm. It was hard to believe that less than twelve hours before, she had seen Drew make out with Travis. <em>Her <em>(now ex) boyfriend. She wondered for a second if she made the right decision. She didn't even let Travis talk the night before. She shook that thought out of her head as soon as it entered. Travis was a player even before they started going out. If Drew wasn't lying, then it just proved that people didn't change.

A knock came at the door, which was partly opened. Bond Gardner, Katie's dad, peeked his head through the gap in the door. "Hey, Kates. You mind coming down to the orchard after you unpack? There's this tree I want you to look at. I think it's infected."

Katie sat up. "Sure, Dad. Be down in a minute."

As soon as her dad shut the door, Katie dove for the bag that held her laptop. She wanted to look up possible fungi infections that the tree might have. As the computer warmed up, Katie's thoughts drifted to Travis again. Besides him being a jerk, he could be really sweet. Plus, he hadn't flirted with any other girls in the month since the fireworks. Maybe it had been a mistake, maybe he was—

Katie was pulled out of her reverie when her computer beeped. It had brought up her email, which was the last thing she'd checked before she got off the plane. She was about to close the page, but then she saw that she had a new message from someone named prankster-bandit11(at)gmail(dot)com. Shrugging, she selected the message.

A video popped up. She scrolled over the play button and clicked it. Travis appeared on the screen, strumming a guitar. Katie rose an eyebrow. She didn't even know he played guitar. How did he get her email? She never gave it to her. Her hand twitched to the track pad; she really needed to look for that tree fungi thing.

When Travis started singing, Katie nearly fell out of her chair. _He can sing too? _She thought. _Oh gods, this is so corny._

_You're a falling star, you're the get away car.  
>You're the line in the sand when I go too far.<br>You're the swimming pool, on an August day.  
>And you're the perfect thing to say.<em>

_And you play it coy, but it's kinda cute.  
>Ah, when you smile at me you know exactly what you do.<br>Baby don't pretend, that you don't know it's true.  
>Cause you can see it when I look at you.<em>

_And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times  
>It's you, it's you, You make me sing.<br>You're every line, you're every word, you're everything._

_You're a carousel, you're a wishing well,  
>And you light me up, when you ring my bell.<br>You're a mystery, you're from outer space,  
>You're every minute of my everyday.<em>

_And I can't believe, uh that I'm your man,  
>And I get to kiss you baby just because I can.<br>Whatever comes our way, ah we'll see it through,  
>And you know that's what our love can do.<em>

_And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times  
>It's you, it's you, you make me sing<br>You're every line, you're every word, you're everything._

_So, la, la, la, la, la, la, la  
>So, la, la, la, la, la, la, la<em>

_And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times  
>It's you, it's you, you make me sing.<br>You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.  
>You're every song, and I sing along.<br>__'Cause you're my everything.  
>Yeah, yeah<em>

_So, la, la, la, la, la, la, la  
>So, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la<em>

Travis kept playing for a few seconds until the song was over. When he finished, he put the guitar down off camera and said, "Hey, Katie."

Katie stared at the screen, completely shocked by the song. Her previous mission of looking up the tree infections was completely forgotten. Travis was actually a decent singer. Not to mention how cliché this all was. Girl breaks up with guy, girl leaves town, guy sends her song; all that was missing was a cheesy explanation of how the guy was completely innocent.

"If you're still watching this," video-Travis continued, "I hope you'll listen to this next part. Last night in the strawberry fields, it was really dark. I couldn't see a thing. Drew walked up, and since I was pretty much blind, I couldn't tell it wasn't you when she kissed me. I'm really sorry that happened. But you didn't listen to me the night before and you ended up leaving camp mad. I swear on the River Styx that Drew kissed me first."

Thunder boomed both in the background of the video and outside the house. Katie's eyes widened. Travis wasn't lying.

Travis shrugged. "Whatever. You probably wouldn't have even watched this. Send me a reply if you actually did. I hope you'll forgive me."

The video ended. Katie sat there, staring at the computer screen, for Zeus knows how long. She pulled up a reply email. She wasn't sure how she was going to word it, but she had her answer. There were so many things she needed to say.

Eventually, Katie settled on one sentence: _I forgive you_.

**A/N: There you have it! Review please?  
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